Kiss Already! What to do when the romance is slow going.

A confession: I wrote this a year ago as part of a string of pep talks for a romance-themed writing challenge. But I think it can still be relevant.


 It took fifteen chapters for Janice and Roland (Of "Bad Apples") to hold hands. Five chapters later, Roland finally kissed Janice on the forehead. A party was thrown.

It can be pretty frustrating when you’re writing a romance and your characters are making “chaste” an understatement.
The first thing to do is Make sure your characters are compatible. If they’re not compatible as a couple, there’s really no reason for them to fall in love, is there? In the case of Janice and Roland, I had almost given up hope on this boy-meets-girl teenage love story. After all, it was beginning to look like boy-meets-girl and girl-tries-to-save-boy’s-soul. Which wouldn’t have been bad if he was, like, a vampire or something.

That didn’t make sense. Forgive me, I’m writing this on my laptop while watching Ellen. So. Back to the topic. If your characters aren’t compatible, don’t crumple up the fifty or so pages you’ve written already. Sometimes characters surprise you. Sometimes it takes an illegal fire in the middle of the park for them to touch hands but slyly pretend it’s just a coincidence just in case the other person isn’t interested.

So what I’m trying to say is this: don’t try to tell your characters when it’s time to fall in love. If they’re compatible, they’ll figure it out on their own. You just write.

“But, Kristina! What if they’re not compatible? Am I wasting my time?”

No. You are not wasting your time, imaginary question asker. Sometimes a tale of best friends is better than a story of a romantic couple. The only case where this is not true is when you’re writing a romance novel. If you are, then maybe you should rethink your genre.

The second thing to do when romance is slow-going is to have a serious talk with your characters. Write a couple romance scenes away from your novel to test the waters. Don’t jump into the bedroom scene right away. That’ll just freak them out. Have them hold hands. If there’s no hint of a spark there, consider forgetting about romance.
Or, do what I did. Just keep writing. Keep writing, with a sliver of hope for love in the back of your mind, and maybe your characters will surprise you.

It might take 26,753 words for them to hug. But if they’re in love, doggone it, they’ll get there. Be patient and don’t try to force them into the bedroom. I tried that with Clarisse. And not only did they not fall in love, but now Clarisse is actually a jealous witch from another life trying to kill Roland before she has her baby (That scene...won't be published). It’s complicated writing, that could have been avoided had I not written that love scene, and Janice and Roland (Ranice? Joland?) could be living drama free lives having fun in college.
Before I go on a rampage now, I’m going to stop writing. Besides, my foot has fallen asleep. Maybe I should clean off my desk instead of writing cross legged on the floor.

To recap:

1)   Make sure your characters are compatible
2)   Test the waters with a one shot hand holding scene
3)   Don’t force the characters into the bedroom. Let them go running in there themselves.
4)   Just keep writing. Give up the notion that you somehow control your characters and let them find their own way.

Prose of the day - Joy Kogawa's Obasan

I've read a lot of poetry/prose lately that I absolutely adore. This one I'm about to share with you comes from Joy Kogawa's Obasan.



 From Goodreads: Based on the author's own experiences, this award-winning novel was the first to tell the story of the evacuation, relocation, and dispersal of Canadian citizens of Japanese ancestry during the Second World War.

It is so much more than that. The first page, right here:

 There is a silence that cannot speak.
There is a silence that will not speak.

Beneath the grass the speaking dreams and beneath the dreams is a sensate sea.
The speech that frees comes from the amniotic deep. To attend its voice, I can
hear it say, is to embrace its absence. But I fail the task. The word is stone.

I
admit it.

I hate the stillness. I hate the stone. I hate the sealed vault with its cold icon. I
hate staring into the night, the questions thinning into space. The sky swallowing
the echoes.

Unless the stone bursts with telling, unless the seed flowers with speech, there is
in my life no living word. The sound I hear is only sound. White sound. Words,
when they fall, are pock marks on the earth. They are hailstones seeking an underground
stream.

If I could follow the stream down and down to the hidden voice, would I come
at last to the freeing word ? I ask the night sky but the silence is steadfast. There is
no reply.

Don't you just love it?

Feature and follow Friday!

Hi! In all honesty, I had no idea 'Follow Friday' existed outside of twitter until...ten minutes ago! Look below!

Isn't that just awesome? At the bottom of this post, there's a linky! And the first person (Alison) is one of the hosts, who I love, and you should check her out if you haven't already. But before that, a little shout out to this week's featured blogger: Goldilox and the three weres.


This week's question:

What would you prefer: reading your favorite book over and over again until you got sick of it OR reading 100s of mediocre books? And why?

 

 

Christen's (Goldilox's) answer:  "Why would anyone want to read hundreds of mediocre books? WHY? I would most definitely reread my favorite book over and over again. My favorites are my favorites for a reason! And which book would I reread until I was blue in the face? Hmm........now that's actually a tough question. Of course I can't pick just one."

 

 

Once again, the link (with a button!) to her blog:

 

And the Linky!






When Copper Suns Fall - The Dark Seraphine Tour and Interview

 

Welcome, Ladies and Gentlemen, to the Dark Seraphine Tour. This tour is all about the wonderful Kasonndra Leigh and her Copper Suns series. I reviewed her first book, When Copper Suns Fall, quite a while back. If you want the summary: "Buy it and read it now. Stop wasting time."

Before giving you the details on how to win all sorts of envy-worthy prizes, I got the chance to Interview Kasonndra! So have fun reading that below. 

 

1.      How did you come up with the title? The title changed almost a million times! No, but seriously though, it was hard. My story was different and I knew that. But my readers had also confirmed that what made it unique was also what made it so memorable. The title had to fit the story and vice versa. So it came to me one day as I stood in the Barnes & Noble that your story is actually about what happens after the copper suns fall. I said all that without spoiling too much, didn’t I? Haha.

2.      Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?Absolutely. I explain a little about the message on my goodreads website, but I’m happy to mention it again. It’s a story of choices and possibilities and all of the wonderful things that can happen when you put your mind into validating something you believe in. 

3.      Can you share a little of your current work with us?The story follows Chela, a young girl who lives in a rebuilt society. She has recently learned that both she and her sick brother have certain powers. In Chela’s society, a place created from an apocalyptic war between good and bad nephilim, any type of supernatural power is illegal. Anyone thought to be related to a celestial creature will either be killed or exiled. So imagine Chela’s shock after she learned her father, a leader in the governing body, has been hiding his children’s secret. But in defense of Chela’s dad, I’ll say he had a reason for keeping them both in the dark. It’ll be up to Chela to save her brother without being discovered. Enter handsome, dashing demon slayer along with a best guy friend who’d walk the wire for her and Chela is all set!

4.      Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?Pegging the voice/style in a book that crosses genres has been tough. Seriously, I had my friends and family calling me for sanity checks. I also had a hard time being disciplined about the process. I kept wandering away, doing yard work, filing my nails, anything to keep from writing. It took me six magical years to get When Copper Suns Fall's voice right. So to all of you struggling with your first novel and learning your writing style, I'll just say stick with it. Don't give up. Writing takes time to get right, and it doesn't come wrapped up in a writing course, either.

5.      Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?Oh I have so many favorite authors. This question is always hard. But I'd have to say Elizabeth Kostova. Her book, the Historian gave me the guts to go for the MFA myself. I also thought it was pretty cool to see a woman writing horror. That's different. I remember saying, "Wow. I can do something like that." I can be different and give the readers in my genre a fresh type of story, and have people accept me for my, eh-em...oddness. But strange in a good way, though.

6.      Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?Yes! Read. Read. Read. Write. Write. Read. Review. Review. Read. Write. I’m not kidding. Follow the percentages in this formula and you’ll see what I mean. Writing is a subjective business. If you want to survive in it, then you must know what makes your voice unique. It took me a very long time to find that voice. But by following the formula above I eventually got it right. And you will too. :-D

7.      How did you come up with the idea for copper suns?When I sat down and began writing When Copper Suns Fall, the story was a standard in your face, super-high fantasy. It came complete with blue creatures, unicorns, princes, and all that. Chela’s name was Cara and Faris had a name that has been overused lately.  I wasn’t trying to be fad girl or the Lady Gaga of the writing world. But rather, I was trying to write the story I always wanted to read. One that came to life when my oldest son asked me: “what if angels that looked like people lived in a dystopian society?” The seeds were planted, the lights in my muse’s apartment lit up. The challenge was on. I asked myself: “how do I stick to an urban setting with fantastical elements, but bring my love of dystopia into play?”

8.      Who is your favorite or least favorite character to write?Seth Alton, hands down, was my favorite character. I mean, the guy is sexy, cocky (in a good way, though) poetic, smart, strong, vulnerable…and did I mention sexy? Anyone who calls themselves the alpha and the omega when you ask him to describe himself is somebody to pay attention to right?

9.      There were a couple scenes in your book that made me want to cry. Were there any scenes you didn't want to write?Aww. My betas said the same thing. I probably know which scene you’re talking about because when I go back and read it I feel the same way. There were three scenes I didn’t want to write. And even though I can’t mention them without spoiling the fun, I’m sure you can figure out which ones those are. Being a writer can sometimes be hard. When you live with your character babies and you have to send one of them into angel land for real then it can really be tough. (Don’t be laughing at me now). 

10.  On the other hand, were there any scenes you liked that didn't make it to the final revision?There were tons of scenes that didn’t make it into the final revision. At that point, I knew that this was going to be a series versus a one-shot deal. Some of those scenes are going to show up in the sequel When Silver Moons Rise, so I can’t talk too much about them. But I will say you get the chance to get in the head of a hot guy in the next installment. LoL

Fun time!

In the point of view of any character you choose, answer these:

1.       What is your dirty little secret?My dirty little secret. Hmm. Where shall I begin. LOL. No, seriously though. I have a short story that I’m writing under a pen name. It’s for adults and you’ll find it to be not your typical goody girl story. I have a LOT of adult fans and betas who helped me get to this point. This story is my thank you to them.

2.      You're walking along and a dragon appears in front of you. What do you do?

I pull out my fireblade (a nifty little thing that aims itself…hehe) and let it rip!

3.      What is your heart's desire?

To purchase an Italian villa that’s as close to the Mediterranean as I can get.

And now what you've all been waiting for! *Drumroll*

Join When Copper Suns Fall as it tours through various blogs over the next couple weeks. This is a mini scavenger hunt.

Can you find the answer to this question: Who is the Dark Seraphine?

If so, then you can enter to win a prize package that includes a paperback copy of the book, a bookmark, an item related to the story, and a $40.00 gift card from either Amazon or Barnes&Noble. Plus, the bloggers get a chance to win something too. Tell us where you first learned about the Dark Seraphine Tour (KaSonndraleigh.com not included) and your favorite blogger could win a prize as well. Simply comment on this blog post, head over to http://kasonndraleigh.blogspot.com/ and fill out the form to be entered for a chance to win on February 24^th.

Most of all, have fun and enjoy the hunt!

Clue for Dark Seraphine hunt: The letter K

Wish List Wednesday

Hi everyone! The following books are ones that I haven't bought or pre-ordered yet, but ones that I want to read nonetheless. They are possibly very good books that I would love to get as a gift, but don't have the money to buy for myself at the moment.

The Witch's Daughter by Paula Brackston

 My name is Elizabeth Anne Hawksmith, and my age is three hundred and eighty-four years. If you will listen, I will tell you a tale of witches.  A tale of magic and love and loss.  A story of how simple ignorance breeds fear, and how deadly that fear can be.  Let me tell you what it means to be a witch. 

In the spring of 1628, the Witchfinder of Wessex finds himself a true Witch. As Bess Hawksmith watches her mother swing from the Hanging Tree she knows that only one man can save her from the same fate: the Warlock Gideon Masters. Secluded at his cottage, Gideon instructs Bess, awakening formidable powers she didn’t know she had. She couldn’t have foreseen that even now, centuries later, he would be hunting her across time, determined to claim payment for saving her life.

In present-day England, Elizabeth has built a quiet life. She has spent the centuries in solitude, moving from place to place, surviving plagues, wars, and the heartbreak that comes with immortality. Her loneliness comes to an abrupt end when she is befriended by a teenage girl called Tegan. Against her better judgment, Elizabeth opens her heart to Tegan and begins teaching her the ways of the Hedge Witch. But will she be able to stand against Gideon—who will stop at nothing to reclaim her soul—in order to protect the girl who has become the daughter she never had?


 Enchantments By Kathryn Harrison

St. Petersburg, 1917. After Rasputin’s body is pulled from the icy waters of the Neva River, his eighteen-year-old daughter, Masha, is sent to live at the imperial palace with Tsar Nikolay and his family—including the headstrong Prince Alyosha. Desperately hoping that Masha has inherited Rasputin’s miraculous healing powers, Tsarina Alexandra asks her to tend to Aloysha, who suffers from hemophilia, a blood disease that keeps the boy confined to his sickbed, lest a simple scrape or bump prove fatal.

Two months after Masha arrives at the palace, the tsar is forced to abdicate, and Bolsheviks place the royal family under house arrest. As Russia descends into civil war, Masha and Alyosha grieve the loss of their former lives, finding solace in each other’s company. To escape the confinement of the palace, they tell stories—some embellished and some entirely imagined—about Nikolay and Alexandra’s courtship, Rasputin’s many exploits, and the wild and wonderful country on the brink of an irrevocable transformation. In the worlds of their imagination, the weak become strong, legend becomes fact, and a future that will never come to pass feels close at hand.

 All that I am by Anna Funder

When eighteen-year-old Ruth Becker visits her cousin Dora in Munich in 1923, she meets the love of her life, the dashing young journalist Hans Wesemann, and eagerly joins in the heady activities of the militant political Left in Germany. Ten years later, Ruth and Hans are married and living in Weimar Berlin when Hitler is elected chancellor of Germany. Together with Dora and her lover, Ernst Toller, the celebrated poet and self-doubting revolutionary, the four become hunted outlaws overnight and are forced to flee to London. Inspired by the fearless Dora to breathtaking acts of courage, the friends risk betrayal and deceit as they dedicate themselves to a dangerous mission: to inform the British government of the very real Nazi threat to which it remains willfully blind. All That I Am is the heartbreaking story of these extraordinary people, who discover that Hitler’s reach extends much further than they had thought. 

Open Minds: Author Interview with Susan Kaye Quinn

When everyone reads minds, a secret is a dangerous thing to keep.

Sixteen-year-old Kira Moore is a zero, someone who can’t read thoughts or be read by others. Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.



Susan Kaye Quinn grew up in California, where she wrote snippets of stories and passed them to her friends during class. Her teachers pretended not to notice and only confiscated her stories a couple times.

Susan left writing behind to pursue a bunch of engineering degrees, but she was drawn back to writing by an irresistible urge to share her stories with her niece, her kids, and all the wonderful friends she’s met along the way.

She doesn’t have to sneak her notes anymore, which is too bad.

Susan writes from the Chicago suburbs with her three boys, two cats, and one husband. Which, it turns out, is exactly as a much as she can handle.

1. How did you come up with the title?

Titles either come to me in a flash early in the process, or fight me every step of the way. This one was easy, being a spin on the telepathic nature of the world as well as its closed-mindedness.

2. Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

I firmly believe that everyone takes their own meaning from a story. But I also intentionally wove in strong themes about intolerance and its impact on individuals and society in general. Whatever the reader takes from the story, is what they’re needing to hear at that time. And I’m good with that. J

3. Can you share a little of your current work with us?

I’m working on Closed Hearts, Book Two of the Mindjack Trilogy. I just sent the second draft off to my critique partners. While I wait for that, I’m drafting a detailed outline for the As-Yet-Unnamed Book-The-Third.

4. Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

All of writing is challenging. I had to conquer a lot of fear about my writing in order for it to really flourish, and I still occasionally struggle with fears – that it won’t be good enough, that people will judge the work, or simply not like it. Once my fears are beaten into submission, writing is like an addiction. I can truly say there’s no part that I dislike (except maybe for fixing commas. I just stink at that).

5. Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

I’m a serious Scott Westerfeld fangirl. He’s brilliant, he takes chances with his work, his writing and imagination are fantastic. Simply brilliant! Did I say brilliant? The guy is wicked good at his craft.

6. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

Let me know what you think of the books! I always love hearing from readers. #makesmyday

7. How did you come up with the idea for Open Minds?

I wanted to enter a 1^st paragraph contest online, but I didn’t like the 1^st paragraphs in my current novels. So I made one up for a novel that didn’t exist. The idea of it captured my imagination and I was pretty much forced to write the novel from there.

8. Who is your favorite or least favorite character to write?

I love all my characters. Seriously. Although I have a teensy crush on my bad boy characters, which you can probably tell from reading the stories.

9. There were a couple scenes in open minds that made me want to cry. Were there any scenes you didn't want to write?

I cry while writing all my novels. Partly because I’m a mush, and partly because I try to put my whole soul into writing. That makes really tough scenes very difficult to write sometimes. There’s one in particular in Open Minds that took me several months to finally push through and write (you can probably guess which one, if you’ve read the book). I kept trying to find a way around writing it, but the story demanded that it be there, so I had to write it.

10. On the other hand, were there any scenes you liked that didn't make it to the final revision?

Oh lots! In fact, I rewrote the thing so many times, I’ve lost track of the scenes that were cut or rearranged beyond recognition. But just because I really liked a particular kissing scene (hm, they always seem to be kissing scenes), doesn’t mean that it needs to be there in the final cut. I’m a big fan of only having what is necessary for the story.

Fun time!

• In the point of view of any character you choose, answer these: In the POV of Simon.

1. What is your dirty little secret? I’ve got a lot of secrets. It’s hard to pick just one. Not that I would tell you, in any event.
2. You're walking along and a dragon appears in front of you. What do you do? Slay it with my awesome mind powers. Or mindjack someone else into running slower than me.
3. What is your heart's desire? To have Kira choose me, even if she finds out who I really am.

Bonus round!
Do you have any questions for me?  

What was your favorite scene in the book? 

 My personal favorite has to be towards the end, when everyone is having nightmares and them *ahem* suddenly start having good dreams. I think it was really sweet.

Which one made you cry?

*Spoilers* It's a tie between when they took Laney and when Simon never made it out of the camp. Thinking about it now, it's definitely when Simon died. That was just cruel. ;) 

Is there one last thing you want to tell your readers? There’s a short prequel story to Open Minds called Mind Games coming out in an anthology on Valentine’s Day. It will be free on Smashwords, and the story gives you a taste of Raf’s POV, and what it’s like to be a mindreader in love with the only girl in school that doesn’t read minds. You can add it to your TBR here. 

And lastly: Where can we all follow you?

Here’s all my online deets: blog, twitter, facebook, Mindjack website. You can also subscribe to my author newsletter to get information about giveaways and upcoming releases

Project Tell Taylor

Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from Regency Era, England ... but she doesn't know it yet.

Then Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's high school at the beginning of the year, and she feels a connection to him, almost like she knows him. She can't stop thinking about him, but whenever she tries talking with him about the mysteries behind her feelings, he makes it clear that he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching him is even more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has started to become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she get him out of her mind?

Even though Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, fighting fate isn't going to be easy.

Listen up! All you writers out there, how many of you have unraveled whole novels in your head from one song? Michelle did, and Remembrance is based on the Taylor Swift song "Love Story".

I think this is just so cool! If I were a singer, I would definitely want to know if someone wrote a BOOK based on one of my songs. It would be such a huge honor. So that's what this project is all about. It is our mission to let her know about all this going on.


So here's from the host blog post:

As a lot of you know by now, my debut novel Remembrance was inspired by Taylor Swift's "Love Story" music video. I talked all about it in a blog entry a few months ago, discussing how Remembrance was inspired by Taylor Swift's "Love Story" music video. I even wrote a letter to Taylor Swift and sent it to her, along with a signed book!

It's been a few months now, and I have yet to hear back from Taylor that she received the letter and book. I don't even know if she ever saw it (I kind of doubt she did). 

I really want to tell Taylor about how inspiring she and her music have been to me, but since Taylor Swift is an international superstar, she’s a little hard to reach. This is where YOUR help comes into play! I am giving away the biggest prize pack I've offered yet, and the ways to enter to win are by telling Taylor Swift about Remembrance.

The Goal: Get Taylor Swift to Tweet about Remembrance!

Got your attention now? Cool! Go here to read the whole post.


Here are a few things that inspire me:

1: Things like this. Dreams and big campaigns and getting lots of people to try to get one person's attention. It's amazing.
 2: Several books. Particularly Christmas stories. My favorite inspirational books: What child is this by Caroline B. Cooney and Paper Angels by Jimmy wayne.



Before I go off, a few more things:

The prize pack video:

  The prize pack itself:


The giveaway: